1 pickup to Shakopee MN (delivered)

1 pickup to Marshalltown IA (delivered)

... spending the night at Story City IA

Breakfast, two cups of yogurt. I didn't care for any of the frozen sandwiches that would have had to have been nuked.

We ended up leaving about 9 AM, could have left earlier, could have left later.

1st stop as the drop, and today is also the shipper of my 2nd leg. I have not picked up here before so I asked the check in person where I needed to go. They pointed to a building and said someone should be able to help me. Today the area where we are supposed to park was coned off from the general area.

Once I had parked, I walked to the building. It has a receptionist who found the person I needed to talk to. I thought they might just have all the keys on the wall. No, the contact person has to print out a release form and then points you in the correct direct. Today there were about 60 trucks lined up ready to ship for the customer we are working with.

They get them in 'like new' condition. They look a little different than when we brought them in.

To get out I just had to give the gate my release form and show them my drivers license. No one wants to sign anything, so until someone makes an issue of it I'm fine with it. I'm not going to get past their tire spikes unless I have their OK.

2nd stop is my clinic. Quick lab work, in and out in 10 minutes.

3rd stop was Dows for fuel. I just past the exit for Clear Lake when the low fuel light came on. 10 miles later I loose my range. So I am guessing that I still had a 14 mile range when I got to the gas station. In a diesel.

No diesel pumps in the auto area. So I had to pull to the back. The first island was open but the pump said to see the cashier. As long as I was in, I asked if they had any small nozzle fuel pumps. Yes, between the building and the first fuel island.

At this point there is a pickup with a trailer parked ahead of me and on the other side of the pump there are two trucks using that area for a parking area. But with backing up a few times I was able to get between the two semi's and fuel. (I didn't think of seeing if the hose from that side would reach my pickup from where I was sitting)

I did the math and decided to put in five gallons.

4th stop - Ames for fuel. The low fuel light is on and I still have 40 miles to go. I'd be dropping it with less than a 20 mile range. First I go to the Phillips because it is easier place to get out of. But over half their pumps are not working and the only diesel pump that is working someone is at putting fuel in their 100 gallon tank.

I go across the street to the Kum and Go and put in another 5 gallons. Within a mile of the gas station I get on an east west road and catch a good tail wind. I arrive at the customer with a range of 90 miles and the low fuel light is not on.

I forget to look at the map for the drop. I didn't last night, I didn't at the last fuel stop. So once I get to the first exit for Marshalltown I pull off on the shoulder. Then a few miles down the road I pull in to a Casey's and look again.

5th stop - I made it. I picked this up an hour before it was supposed to be ready and I am delivering 15 minutes before they close. By the time the paperwork is signed it is 3:30 and people are leaving the lot before we do. We pull out and drive to the fair grounds a few blocks away to finish our paperwork before we head out of town.

Earlier today there had been a trip from Des Moines to Davenport but I didn't want to commit until I knew if we would get the 2nd trip dropped. If we had done that trip then there was another trip close to Davenport heading back west that would have tied in nicely.

There also had been a short trip in MN that was gone by the end of the day. And IA dispatch didn't put anything knew on the load board that could be done in one day. Nor did the auction dispatcher give out a list this afternoon. He usually does one in the AM and one in the PM. I even call that dispatcher to see if there was anything he didn't have time to deal with today. Nope. As we are talking I mention we might be coming to FL when the weather gets too bad in MN. So he tells me his family will be driving north this winter because some of them have never seen snow :)

BB and I have more discussion and finally decide to stop in Story City so that we are off the road before dark. And before the deer are out.

6th and final stop is Story City and the Comfort Inn. It was $10 less than the Best Western in Clear Lake. I would have liked to have gotten to Clear Lake but with a full moon coming up, who knows what is going to be happening on the highways tonight.

Before we get to the hotel we stop at the Mexican place in town. It is still open, our other choices were Pizza Ranch, DQ, McD's and Subway. The first bite tasted much better than the last, too much food. BB didn't eat all of hers, I did but I didn't eat lunch.

Once in the hotel we are looking at work. Rental cars out of Ann Arbor MI are $1,250 a day so those trips are out. Actually it is only Ann Arbor that was that price, other nearby towns were closer to the $100-200 a day price.

We also looked at Kalispel MT. Nice trip, I would like to do it sometime. But we crunched the numbers and we would have to do 500 miles a day and 400 the first day after we get to the shipper mid-morning. And as long as we were going that way, the auction trucks in ND add almost no miles. But with or without the ND truck we would be getting home late Wednesday or early Thursday / Thanksgiving day.

(And I still have things I want to do before we leave the day after Thanksgiving)

Load board

US - 270

IA - 98/97

MN - 6

WI - 8

So as of now we are not doing any trips that we see on the load board. Maybe the auction dispatch will add new trips that work or IA will. But we don't want to be putting a 1,000 miles one way on our car and most rentals are too much this close to Thanksgiving.